Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Singapore should brace up now for a long term solution to flooding

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Reading Singapore's state controlled Straits Times, it appears Lee Kuan Yew is in denial over his insurmountable predicament, from the skies; flooding.

The cause for flooding in the island is very simple. When atmospheric temperature rises, which it is doing due to global warming, it can hold more water vapor. When it condenses at higher altitudes, it comes down as rain, only that it is more intense and heavier each time. And day by day, with the sun warming the seas around more and more water vapour goes upwards into the sky.

Second, Singapore is principally a low lying city and very small as well. As the atmospheric temperature increases, sea water expands which causes higher sea level. This means the sea water beginning to encroach inland.

So when you have huge quantities of rain water pouring down, and if it coincides especially with high tide, as much as 3 meters, this means the rain run off has nowhere to go, because sea water is in fact trying to come inland.

And with a small island like Singapore there is nowhere else the people can go to avoid the floods.

The time has come for Lee Kuan Yew to face his people with the truth for once. Sandbags along Orchard Road is not going to help, enlarging Stamford canal is not going to help. You cannot drink the water, you cannot store it, you cannot export it, you cannot evaporate it, you simply cannot do anything given Singapore's physical constraints.

If you are going to have these floods increasing in depth and frequency, which I assure you is going to happen, you have to think of solutions which are realistic. Truly expanding the size of any canals is not going to do the trick because it will only serve to receive incoming sea water, and remember, the sea has a lot of water.

Singapore is going to see massive numbers of people, especially expatriates and guest workers leaving. Businesses will leave. Money will flow out. Commerce will decline. In the end, Singapore will only have a few areas such as Bukit Timah Hill safe enough and flood free. But Bukit Timah Hill cannot house 5 million people, the population of Singapore.

Of course the fault lies entirely with this dictatorship because they knew or should have known of this eventuality a very long time ago which they deliberately ignored. Now it is not a revolution that will bring about the fall of Lee Kuan Yew, it is rain.

It may be time before everything collapses, to discuss possibilities now with moving Singaporeans to another country which will take them. Perhaps Malaysia, perhaps Australia, I do not know. But sticking your head in the sand and pretending nothing is happening and telling Singaporeans and spinning a whole length of yarn about storing water in rooftops and underground is simply insulting our intelligence.

Remember this. The atmosphere is continually warming. Which means next week the flooding will be worse than it was this week. And the week after next even worse than next week. In 6 months Orchard Road will be 3 feet under water. And Massimo Dutti, the Italian luxury store in the basement of Liat Towers is not going to like it one bit.

Gopalan Nair Attorney at Law Disbarred from practicing law in Lee's Singapore, imprisoned and refused entry to the island for criticizing Singapore's judiciary in this blog (see blogpost May 29, 2008 Singapore. Judge Belinda Ang's Kangaroo Court) Actively practicing law in California and in good standing at the California Bar. Member in good standing as a lawyer in England and Wales (Barrister).39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1 Fremont, CA 94538, USA Tel: 510 657 6107 Fax: 510 657 6914 Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/

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About Me

Determined to find the Truth.
Born Singapore, educated Winstedt School 2 (next to Monks Hill in Newton, Singapore) Raffles Institution, National Service, some travel in Europe, then law studies England, return to Singapore, practiced for 10 years, active Workers Party member, stood elections 1988 and 1991 in Singapore, was harassed and persecuted by Lee Kuan Yew for my political beliefs, left for USA, obtained asylum and admitted California State Bar, practice law ever since in Fremont California near San Francisco. Relinquished Singapore citizenship 2005 because I was not prepared to permit Lee Kuan Yew to unjustly retain my CPF funds if I remained Singapore Citizen. On principle, the only correct thing for me to do was to give it up, for my CPF funds. I am an American Citizen as of 2004.